lR u s JHr 0 11'" lR lE'o S j , 0 March 1990 CJ)~ t""' .....::t: ~ f?, O:j ~ ~ .,... ()Q 0,....- ~ en t:;l (") , ~ 0 February 10( 1990 Z ::;: "" ~ Toronto (t) rc ;:;' r:n ~ ~ ~ ..., 0. 0 " ;:.; ~ ~ 0 '"I:l rt>::J -L"J 1 " 9 o '" ~ (") Well, here we are, just days away fr om the first sho w on the Presto tour. We've been BO:j rehearsing for weeks now, relearning the old and new songs, and it's coming along. As usual in a Rush show, we'll be playing a handful of songs from the newest album, and a good variety of older stuff - some 'standards' (seems funny to think of them that way), as well as some unexpected reappearances. When we began putting togethe r the show, things went slowly at first, learning one song at a time, but now we are able to play the whole show in one go, so we know we're going to be all right. That old show-biz maxim: "All right on the night." As always, there was a lo t of work involved in preparing for a new lour, bul especially lhis one; we were detennined not to make it a continuation of previous tours, but a whole new thing: the firs t Rush tour of the '90s. So we had a lo t to think about, in the music and presentation of the show, but those around us have been working even harder, booking the tour, hotel and travel arrangements, organizing technical requirements with the arenas, and - a job which becomes increasingly more complex and critical - preparing our equipment. We have been lucky as a band to have spanned the time period we have. I don't mean just our longevity, but also this particular era. Rock music has grown so much stylistically, allowing us a steady flo w of new in fluences, and the technological changes have been perfectly timed fo r Rush's development, from the first monophonic synthesizers to the current summit of MID I and digital sampling. Every time we have asked ourselves if we shouldn't break down and add a fourth member, technology has offered an alternative. This tour was no exception. Early on we ta lked of adding a keyboard player or a backup singer (or a keyboard player who could sing backup). We were open-minded about the idea, and gave it serious thought, but the idea never felt right. We like being a trio, we like each other as individuals and a working unit, and we didn't wan I to mess with that chemistry by adding another person, even infonnally. So once again we're trying to do it all. Trying to cover all those frets, keys, foot pedals, voices, drumheads, cymbals, and triggers at their proper times is no cakewalk, and when I si t behind my drums during rehearsal and wa tch Geddy and Alex choreograph their moves to r ~ 'U cOl cover everything, I have to thi nk again: 'Wouldn't it be easier to get another guy?' <CD . C ~~. ""C ~ r­ J~:z ~d''' z9 0 (/) Jl ~ -...J ru > wen~UJ <.Ccom~ But no. Like little boys in the sandbox, we still want to have all the toys for oursel\'es. Or at least make all the noise ourselves. What does the title "Force Ten" refer to? And that's where we draw the line. We figure that as long as we do the actual triggering Charles Henau lt ourselves, then we're playing it. Like in "Scars," where the drum part includes eight different Goffstown NH exotic drums - I'm still playing them, and it's still really difficult to do. (Somehow in the Puritan work ethic, that makes it okay) It's not just like pushing a button. And though a sou nd The Beaufort Scale - look it up! may be, in a sense, recorded by digital sampling, it's not like a tape that just rolls along; we have to hit the key or foot pedal at the right moment, like any note of music, and musically, What is the Omega Concern found in Power Windows and Hold Your Fire? we also have to frame it properly. Brad Cokendolpher, So yes, to answer the question nobody asked, there are sampled instruments and \'oices up Boone's Mill VA there, but rest assured .......:. we're playing them. The choices were difficult: Do we hire another musician to augment our live sound? The Omega Concern is Alex's non-profit organization for Musical Scientists, devoted to the Hmmm... No. discovery of wonderful inventions. The Omega Stand, on which he plays his acoustic guitar, is Do we just play the songs in a stripped-down analog-only version? one such, another is the stand whi ch holds my rhyming dictionary when I'm lyric~writing, or Hmmm.. No. the backlit lyric stand which Geddy uses in the studio to hold those lyriCS. And, of course, not to Do we use tapes? forget the wonderful Album-Order-Deciding-Device. No. Well, with digital sampling we can have all the sounds we want, whenever we want them, How was it decided that "Mystic Rhythms" would be the theme song to the show "1986," and and we can trigger them oursel Yes. how did the band feel about it? Okay, yeah. We'll take that one. Trey Daughtry, Richmond VA Anyway, that's what was on my mind today. And now it's gone and there's nothing on my mind. So let's go on to some questions from you ... I don't know how they came to hear the song, but the show approached us and asked if they could use it. Of course, they didn't pay us anything, but they said they'd give us a credit. How did we feel about it? We thought it was nice. What is Geddy saying on "La Villa Strangiato" on Exit Stage Left? What is the meaning of the term "Gub." Fred Laise Sharon lones Glouceste r VA Burton-On Trent, UK See Woody Allen's Play It Again Sam. The translation was given in the credits.. I guess you didn't buy it then, huh? Something about "baby needs new shoes." The real question that everyone, including Doug Trompak of Bull Will Rush ever consider playing in Israel? You have a lot of fans here. Shoals AR, is burning to know is: What was Alex singing in that song during the \;deo for A Yossi Leibovitz, Show Of Hands? Well, sorry to let you all down, but I'm afraid it's a non-story - he wasn't Rishon Lezion, Israel censored or a nything like that. His vocali zing was impromptu and unexpected, and his microphone wasn't turned on! Yep, as simple and dull as that. As for what he was saying. it Gee, maybe we've got a lo t of fans in your house, but not in the rest of the country. Not to be was something li ke this: "La la la Ia la la." crass about it, but just by way of illustration, I think our last royalty statement showed about six people who had bought our records there. Maybe thousands of pi rated copies are sold in Israel that we don't know about? But seriously, sure we'd consider playing there, jf enough people wanted to see us. 2 3 c) My favorite album is always the most recent I've done, and 1 havf to think you'd be in trouble Is the writer YOII desc ribe in "Los ing It" Ernest Hemingway? Is is more than a coincidence that if that weren't the case. No, you wouldn't be in trouble, I would - if r believed that what I Grace Under Pressure is a well-known Hemingway definition fo r courage? Is the dancer you was doing now wasn't better than what I used to do, Happily, I've never had that fear. desc ribe any particular individual? (Though plenty of others have had it for me, and they never hesitate to write and tell me so in Laura Harriman the rudest terms. Oh well, what do they know about my life and work? Zip.) St. Lollis MO Yes, the writer is old Ernest. I believe that the expression "grace under pressure" was actually What similarities can be found in the themes from Miller's The Crucible and Rush's "Witch coined by Dorothy Parker, to describe the attributes of a Hemingway hero, but I'm not su re. In Hunt." any case, it seemed to describe the theme of the songs for that album, as well as the difficulties Grant Dawson, of life in the early '80s. The dancer is no one in particular, though partly inspired by the movie Congers NY The Turning Point. I'm not sure Grant, I haven't read The Crucible. But I will one of these days. a) I've heard some curious stories about "Mr Big And The Royal Jamaicans" in the Po wer Windows credits. Is there a curious story to this? Do you guys thi nk tha t your continuity (pretty phenomennl by rock standards) can be at all b) In the credits fo r Metallica's Master Of Puppets, they thank Rush. Why? attributed to the fact that Alex and Neil are Virgos and Geddy a Leo? All your signs are very c) Is there any truth to the rumors that Hold Your Fire marks Rush's last studio album and close together - almost a mathematical precision.